Fernandez’s ‘Second Death’ seals Latin America

Chiller part of Argentina's building genre scene

FilmSharks Intl. has taken Latin American rights to “The Second Death,” the latest film from Buenos Aires’ Magma Cine, one of Latin America’s fastest-growing production houses.

The feature debut of Argentinean helmer-scribe Santiago Fernandez, “Second Death,” the moody genre blender – a rural procedural-come-mystery chiller, marks an original addition to Argentina’s fast-building genre production scene as a younger generation of filmmakers and producers seek to reach out to wider audiences.

Agustina Lecouna (“France”) plays a woman cop with her own dark past who investigates a murder case in a dead-end village with its own dark past. She’s skeptical when boy clairvoyant reveals that the murderer is the Virgin Mary. But he never seems to be wrong.

Sold by Matteo Lovadina’s Paris-based Reel Suspects, “Second Death” has also been licensed to Germany’s Donau-Film) and Turkey (Medyavizyon).

A self-styled “genre auteur,” Fernandez shot “Death” in desaturated tones to suggest characters who are anchored in the past, living in a dead present, he said.

Screened at Argentina’s Bafici Fest and Spain’s Sitges, “Death” is the first of three genre pics – understood in a wider sense – set up at Magma Cine, as it moves from classic arthouse production towards wider audience fare.